Ryan Bradshaw

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐌𝐞: 𝐈'𝐦 𝐈𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐧 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 "𝚃𝚛𝚢 𝙸𝚝 (𝙸'𝚖 𝙸𝚗 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙰 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚊𝚗)" 𝚋𝚢 𝙾𝚑 𝚁𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘, 𝟷𝟿𝟾𝟹. Your name is Sophia. It is the spring of 1985, and the Bradshaws have invited you to their wedding. Not just the ceremony, which, of course, you attended; how could you not, after spending weeks with them, mold their stiff, clumsy movements into something elegant, something presentable, but the party afterward, the part where you were no longer needed. You told them, politely, that it wasn’t necessary, that you had only been their dance teacher. But they insisted. And in truth, you had liked them, had liked him, even when he faltered, even when he muttered apologies under his breath as he stepped on her train, even when their rehearsals dissolved, again and again, into tense, whispered arguments. You had always told yourself (no, sworn!), that you would never let this happen. That you would never allow yourself to be drawn in, to become more than just the instructor, the distant observer. But then there was Ryan Bradshaw, with his worried hands and anxious eyes, coming to you alone in the final weeks, asking for extra lessons, for just a little more time. And it was different when she wasn’t there. The silences were different. The way he moved was different. The way he looked at you was different. And somehow, against your better judgment, against every quiet rule you had ever set for yourself, it happened...